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Traveling towards fame: Albert Einstein and the Eddington eclipse expedition to Príncipe and Sobral in 1919

  • Lapo Casetti

Albert Einstein abruptly rose to worldwide fame in November 1919, after Arthur Eddington announced the successful measurement of the gravitational light bending predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The measurement had been performed by an expedition towards two remote Portuguese-speaking destinations, the island of Príncipe in equatorial Africa and Sobral in northern Brazil, where the total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 was visible and allowed to measure the position of stars close to the Sun, revealing the sought-after effect. This journey was the beginning of a story that still goes on today.

  • Keywords:
  • Einstein,
  • Eddington,
  • general relativity,
  • solar eclipse,
  • São Tomé and Príncipe,
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Lapo Casetti

University of Florence, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-6964-5611

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  • Publication Year: 2021
  • Pages: 421-440
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2021 Author(s)

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  • Publication Year: 2021
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2021 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Traveling towards fame: Albert Einstein and the Eddington eclipse expedition to Príncipe and Sobral in 1919

Authors

Lapo Casetti

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-467-0.34

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2021

Copyright Information

© 2021 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Nel segno di Magellano tra terra e cielo

Book Subtitle

Il viaggio nelle arti umanistiche e scientifiche di lingua portoghese e di altre culture europee in un’ottica interculturale

Editors

Michela Graziani, Lapo Casetti, Salomé Vuelta García

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

492

Publication Year

2021

Copyright Information

© 2021 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-467-0

ISBN Print

978-88-5518-466-3

eISBN (pdf)

978-88-5518-467-0

Series Title

Studi e saggi

Series ISSN

2704-6478

Series E-ISSN

2704-5919

270

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